Big Words
{{Short description|2013 American film}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Big Words
| image = Big_words.jpg
| caption =
| director = Neil Drumming
| screenplay = Neil Drumming
| producer = Matthew Keene Smith
| starring = {{plainlist|
}}
| music = Neil Drumming
| cinematography = Cliff Charles
| editing = Keith Overton
| studio = Twice Told Films
| distributor = Array{{cite magazine |title= 'Neil Drumming's 'Big Words' finds distribution label |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |url=https://ew.com/article/2013/04/18/neil-drumming-big-words// |access-date=2013-04-18}}
| runtime = 93 minutes
| country = United States
| language = English
| released = {{film date|2013|1||Slamdance Film Festival}}
}}
Big Words is the feature film debut of writer/director Neil Drumming and premiered at Slamdance Film Festival in January 2013.{{cite news|last1=Martinez|first1=Vanessa|title=Review: Clever 'Big Words' Is A Well-Acted & Engaging Feature Debut By Neil Drumming|url=http://www.indiewire.com/2013/07/review-clever-big-words-is-a-well-acted-engaging-feature-debut-by-neil-drumming-166782/|access-date=20 August 2016|work=IndieWire|date=11 July 2013|archive-date=22 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822232512/http://www.indiewire.com/2013/07/review-clever-big-words-is-a-well-acted-engaging-feature-debut-by-neil-drumming-166782/|url-status=live}} Drumming wrote and directed.
Plot
Set on November 4, 2008, the night of Barack Obama's historic election as the first black President of the United States,{{cite news|url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20130830-neil-drumming-in-his-own-words|title=Neil Drumming: In his own words|date=October 21, 2014|work=BBC|access-date=20 August 2016|archive-date=21 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821232327/http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20130830-neil-drumming-in-his-own-words|url-status=live}}
Big Words revolves around three friends who 15 years earlier had had "a promising hip-hop group and are now dealing with the challenges of being in their late 30s."{{cite news|last1=Tiggett|first1=Jai|title=Interview: 'Big Words' Director Neil Drumming Talks Hip-Hop, Career, and Influences|url=http://www.indiewire.com/2013/07/interview-big-words-director-neil-drumming-talks-hip-hop-career-and-influences-166776/|access-date=20 August 2016|work=IndieWire|date=11 July 2013|archive-date=6 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160806190935/http://www.indiewire.com/2013/07/interview-big-words-director-neil-drumming-talks-hip-hop-career-and-influences-166776/|url-status=live}}
Distribution
The collective African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement (AFFRM) distributed the film.{{cite news|last1=Obenson|first1=Tambay A.|title=Not Yet an AFFRM Rebel? Join the African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement…|url=http://www.indiewire.com/2015/05/not-yet-an-affrm-rebel-join-the-african-american-film-festival-releasing-movement-154523/|access-date=20 August 2016|work=IndieWire|date=4 May 2015|archive-date=21 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821074904/http://www.indiewire.com/2015/05/not-yet-an-affrm-rebel-join-the-african-american-film-festival-releasing-movement-154523/|url-status=live}} Big Words made its New York premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.{{cite news|last1=Nolan|first1=Hamilton|title=A Discussion With Neil Drumming, Writer and Director of Big Words|url=http://gawker.com/5981492/a-discussion-with-neil-drumming-writer-and-director-of-big-words|access-date=20 August 2016|work=Gawker|date=February 6, 2013|archive-date=23 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160823185111/http://gawker.com/5981492/a-discussion-with-neil-drumming-writer-and-director-of-big-words|url-status=live}}{{cite web|title=Big Words|url=http://www.bam.org/film/2013/big-words|website=BAM.org|access-date=20 August 2016|archive-date=22 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822125734/http://www.bam.org/film/2013/big-words|url-status=live}}
Reception
Selecting the film as a New York Times "Critics' Pick," Jeannette Catsoulis's review praised Drumming's "whip-smart screenplay" and "droll, insightful dialogue," describing the film as "an engrossing, coming-of-middle-age drama."{{cite news|last1=Catsoulis|first1=Jeannette|title=Neil Drumming's 'Big Words' Explores Male Disaffection|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/19/movies/neil-drummings-big-words-explores-male-disaffection.html|access-date=20 August 2016|work=The New York Times|date=18 July 2013|archive-date=10 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510082947/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/19/movies/neil-drummings-big-words-explores-male-disaffection.html|url-status=live}} Writing in The Independent, Darren Richman compared Drumming's filmmaking to Noah Baumbach, both in the directors' relationship to the characters their films depict—like Baumbach, "Drumming seems to love his characters because of rather than in spite of their flaws"—and in the films' subject matter, noting that a "sense that things haven’t quite gone to plan, reminiscent of Baumbach’s Greenberg, hangs over Big Words from first frame to last."{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/movies-you-might-have-missed-neil-drumming-big-words-a7581871.html|title=Movies You Might Have Missed - Neil Drumming's Big Words|last=Rich|first=Darren|date=2017-02-15|newspaper=The Independent|access-date=2017-02-25|language=en-GB|archive-date=2017-02-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226050354/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/movies-you-might-have-missed-neil-drumming-big-words-a7581871.html|url-status=live}}
Cast
{{castlist|
- Dorian Missick as John Smith aka Big Words
- Gbenga Akinnagbe as James
- Darien Sills-Evans as Malik the Cut Mystik
- Zachary Booth as Ben Shine
- Yaya DaCosta as Annie
- Jean Grae as Bree
- Amir Arison as Eddie
- Francis Benhamou as Sam
- Suzy Jane Hunt as Traci
- J. Bernard Holloway as Bubby
- Ta-Nehisi Coates as himself
- Malcolm Xavier as Young P
}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|http://www.twicetoldfilms/bigwords.com}}
- {{IMDb title|tt2339379|Big Words}}
- {{Rotten Tomatoes|m/big_words|Big Words}}
- {{Metacritic film|movie/big-words/}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Big Words}}
Category:2010s comedy-drama films
Category:2010s English-language films
Category:American comedy-drama films
Category:African-American films